Conversations: Lionell Spruill Sr. – “Still Helping People”

By Brenda H. Andrews
Publisher
New Journal and Guide

In May 2000, then Virginia State Delegate Lionell Spruill received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws citation from the Norfolk State University Board of Visitors. Today, the very same Spruil sits on that Board of Visitors, being recently appointed by Governor Glenn Youngkin.

It is one of two new prestigious boards where Spruill (that’s Senator Spruill!)  has been appointed since his departure from the Virginia General Assembly in 2023 after losing a re-election bid. His second board appointment is on the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, located in the city he has served as a public servant for as long as he cares to remember.

Outstanding report card for a kid who grew up in a racially segregated and working class household of 15 children in South Norfolk before it merged into the city of Chesapeake. Complicating life for him as a youth were a hearing handicap and a speech impediment that caused him to curse when he couldn’t get his point across.

Later as an adult, several operations helped to stabilize the hearing and speech defects, enabling him to pursue his political career. Yet even today, he still carries a handful of beads in his pocket for use if he finds himself challenged when speaking or being misunderstood. The beads are his reminders to slow down and concentrate on his speech and delivery.

“People want to know, ‘what is Spruill doing now?’” Sen. Spruill says. “Well, I’m still helping people.”

“Helping people” began many years ago when a young Spruill and his neighbors organized the West Munden Civic League which created Chesapeake’s first block security unit. His lobbying before city council to improve the community’s infrastructure led to an appointment on the Chesapeake Planning Commission.

That was followed by running for and winning a seat on the Chesapeake City Council. In 1994, he transitioned from local to state politics, winning a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. He completed 22 years as a State Delegate before becoming a State Senator, a position he held from 2016 to 2023. During that time, he sat or chaired several powerful committees.

Virginia State Delegate Lionell Spruill at NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY

His accomplishments as a state legislator are numerous. As a rookie in the Virginia statehouse in Richmond,  he spent his first five years working to change the state’s rules on the appointment of judges that led to Chesapeake’s first three Black judges being appointed: Bernard Goodwin, now Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court; Rufus Banks and Eileen Olds. As a seasoned veteran lawmaker, he took on the rights of Black women to wear their hair as they wish on the job by co-sponsoring the Crown Act which is being duplicated in other states and at the national level.

But the single area he most relates to throughout his long political tenure in the Virginia General Assembly is the consistent focus he maintained on increasing funding for Virginia’s two Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Norfolk State University and Virginia State University. Spruill is an NSU alum. For years, both HBCU’s were underfunded, a disparity Spruill championed to change whenever he could.

As one might imagine, his recent gubernatorial appointment to the NSU Board of Trustees has been well received and appreciated by him.

Spruill’s appointment to the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center has brought its own acclaim to the former lawmaker. His board nameplate reads “Sen. Lionell Spruill,” a show of respect for his many years and contributions to the city of Chesapeake and the Commonwealth.

The Chesapeake Regional Medical Center opened its doors in 1976 and is the only independent hospital in the Hampton Roads area. It was awarded Magnet Recognition, the highest honor in nursing excellence, achieved by only a small select number of hospitals.

The hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Center is nationally recognized and treats the most stroke patients in the region. Also, the hospital has an Open Heart Program and performed its first open heart surgery this year which was successful.

Spruill was appointed to the hospital board by the Chesapeake City Council in a 5-4 vote decided by Mayor Rick West. That important support from West earned the Mayor, a Republican running for re-election in November, support from Spruill, a Democrat. Getting along across the aisle for a common cause was a lesson Spruill says he practiced over the years he negotiated policies in Richmond.

For the record, Senator Spruill wants everyone to know he has not left the world of politics. He is the campaign manager for Dr. Pat King, Democrat, who is running for Chesapeake City Council, and for Malia Huddle, Democratic candidate for Chesapeake School Board. He’s also supporting Les Smith, Democrat, who is running for Chesapeake City Council.

Over in Norfolk, he’s campaigning for his longtime good friend Mayor Kenneth Alexander in his re-election bid. When Alexander, who was a State Senator, was elected Mayor, Spruill replaced him in a special election that year.

Thusly, the yet enlarging legacy of public servanthood and community engagement that defines Lionell Spruill continues as an example for others to follow.

And so it is.